Mostly what this guy said... These misconceptions in Karate stem from the fact that somewhere along the lines people started thinking that those crazy deep stances and chicken wing like punches from the hip were the end technique while in fact they are just methods to train students with and exaggerate certain movements & functions.

Martial arts is learnt through your body that's why these techniques were made. I don't know why the majority of practitioners started thinking that they were realistic ''end game'' techniques.